Right time to declare Rahul as Congress' PM candidate: Virbhadra Singh

New Delhi: Amid heightened speculation about Rahul Gandhi's nomination as Congress' prime ministerial candidate, senior party leader and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Friday said it is the "right time" that he is declared.

Downplaying the challenge of Narendra Modi in the General Elections, the 79-year-old Himachal leader said, "I don't think Modi is a mountain which cannot be removed. You (Media) have made Modi a mountain..."

Maintaining that any election is a challenge, he said that earlier also the top leaders of BJP like Atal Behari Vajpayee and LK Advani had led their party in elections. "If Modi came today, it is their internal matter whom they want to project. We do not think there is a very big challenge for us," he said."Rahul Gandhi has a tradition of Congress party, tradition of family value...Now he has become Vice President and is leading the movement of youths... Today people want youth leadership to come forward. From all points of views, he is fit to run the party and become Prime Minister," Singh told reporters.

To a question on whether he thinks that the right time has come for the party to name Rahul its PM candidate in the January 17 AICC meeting, Singh said, “It has indeed come. This is the right time. When will it be done otherwise? After elections? "I think there is a time for everything. Time automatically throws up leadership and today a leadership has emerged in Congress and that has come from the majority of the party."

Singh had steered Congress to a victory in Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections last year and became chief minister of the state for the sixth time, setting a record. Singh is considered a strong leader, whose voice is valued within the organization.

His remarks advocating the projection of Rahul Gandhi as party's Prime Minister comes at a time when the Congress Vice President's role in party affairs have remarkably grown, which was also witnessed during the passage of Lokpal Bill as Rahul took the lead.

To questions about Rahul's new formulations of regular monitoring of party work in states, Singh said, "This is very good. It has made Congress agile and gave it a new direction." Singh added "What he is teaching people is to fight from the front and doing it by example. This is what we require...It is very easy to give speeches, advice but one should come in field to implement it... this is what he is doing."